Moda has announced its promotion of a public code policy, which involves releasing non-sensitive government system or software code to the public. This initiative aims to provide transparency on how these systems operate, encouraging discussion, collaboration, and value addition. Ultimately, this enhances the convenience and security of government digital services. Today, moda together with representatives from six municipalities, international digital democracy organizations, and private tech communities, jointly announced the lauch of the public code platform website (code.gov.tw). This platform makes government-provided code publicly accessible for review and use by the public and other government agencies. In the future, more government agencies will be invited to join the ranks of public code, facilitating the advancement of Taiwan's software industry through public-private collaboration.
Moda explains that public code refers to considering the original source code developed by the government as a public good, open for access by all citizens. This initiative emerged in Europe in the 2010s and has been actively advocated by the free software and open-source communities in Taiwan. Moda's public code platform website went live today, offering 22 public code projects across 15 categories, including the front end of the open data platform. In the future, people can quickly search for available public code on the website and download it directly, significantly shortening development time.
Moda’s public code policy encompasses three main dimensions: regulations and guidelines, talent cultivation, and information systems. The public code platform website launched today is part of the information systems component. Other related support measures include training courses and administrative guidelines for government agencies, which are expected to be released by the end of this year to facilitate the comprehensive promotion of public code and ensure the sustainable operation of the platform.
Minister Audrey Tang stated that starting today, anyone who connects to code.gov.tw can directly utilize or improve code, continuously innovating and refining on the basis of existing code. This not only reduces the burden on government colleagues but also enhances the efficiency of public interactions. Think of code.gov.tw as an information library, with its code resembling books that everyone can borrow to read and study. They can then write a thesis and contribute it back to the library, enriching the world. This is another value of public code, achieving digital resilience for all through public-private collaboration.
Moda stated that the public code policy has received responses from some government agencies. For instance, the six municipalities have signed a memorandum of cooperation with moda to collaborate on various supporting measures and jointly promote the public code policy in Taiwan. Today, Director Chao Shih-lung of the Taipei City Information Bureau, Chairman Lin Feng-yu of the New Taipei City Research and Evaluation Commission, Chairman Wu Zhao-ming of the Taoyuan City Smart City Development Committee, Deputy Director Huang Hui-min of the Taichung City Digital Governance Bureau, Chairperson Chen Shu-zi of the Tainan City Research and Development Commission and Evaluation Commission, and Deputy Director Chen Chih-ming of the Kaohsiung City Information Center all attended to express their support.
In addition, representatives from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom's Global Innovation Hub, the Open Culture Foundation, and the Mozilla Taiwan Community also attended and acknowledged the value of introducing the concept of public code through public-private collaboration. Sandra Lin, who proposed and participated in moda's Civic Tech Sandbox demonstration project last year, shared her experience in citizen participation in government service design. She expressed delight in seeing last year's administrative software code, which she assisted with, being made available for use by more government agencies through public code.
